Movie Review: Snow White

Seemingly unable to come up with compelling, original ideas for movies, Walt Disney Studios continues to churn out live-action remakes of their animated classics, finally landing on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (here shortened to Snow White). Given that the original, the company’s first feature film, is itself based on a classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale that has subsequently been used time and time again, redoing this story 88 years later feels less creatively bankrupt than some of the other options so I was genuinely curious to see where they would take it.

We meet young Snow White (Emilia Faucher) as the kingdom ruled over by her benevolent parents enjoys a period of prosperity and happiness. Unfortunately, her mother takes ill and passes away, leaving an opening for a mysterious woman to arrive and woo her father the King. The Evil Queen (Gal Gadot) quickly changes the kingdom from a peaceful, agrarian society to a more militant one and begins hoarding the wealth to herself. She sends the King on a quest from which he never returns and keeps Snow White locked in the castle as the years go on.

Under her rule her subjects are suffering but she cares not, more interested in daily visits to her Magic Mirror (Patrick Page) to check that she is still the fairest in the land. When one day the mirror informs her that a now grown Snow White (Rachel Zegler) has surpassed her for the title, she becomes consumed with jealousy and instructs her Huntsman (Ansu Kabia) to kill the girl. He is unable to follow through with it and instead instructs her to run away into the woods. As she flees, she first encounters a group of seven dwarfs who allow her to stay with them and then a band of rebels led by the dashing rogue Jonathan (Andrew Burnap). When the Queen learns that Snow White is still alive, she’ll need the help of her new friends and all the creatures of the forest to keep safe and try to restore prosperity to the Kingdom.

Zegler delights in the title role, nailing the chipper, sing-song affectations the character requires and exuding a convincing warmth that makes it easy to believe that nearly everyone she meets would so quickly take a liking to her. Burnap is also well cast as the handsome and wryly charming Jonathan, a new character who takes the place of the Prince. It’s a smart change, that allows the tale’s “one true love” motif to be better developed and therefore more convincing. Gadot is a bit more hit and miss as the Evil Queen. Most of the time she is suitably menacing, but at times her performance veers towards camp in a way that feels out of place in an otherwise earnest production.

The voice cast for the dwarves all do fine, but the decision to use CGI to create them both flies in the face of the idea of a “live action” remake and winds up quite off-putting, especially at first. Viewers will likely get used to their appearance as the film goes on, but I was never able to unsee the similarities between Dopey and Mad magazine’s mascot Alfred E. Neuman (maybe this was intentional?).

Director Marc Webb and his team have created a world that is otherwise beautiful to observe at least, populated with adorably convincing wildlife and settings that one would truly like to escape to. The costuming is a little underwhelming, but it gets the job done and at least looks like Spirit Halloween should have no problem replicating it. The musical numbers are staged well, and while the 2 songs from the original film remain the most memorable, the new ones by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul are mostly quite good.

There is plenty that will keep this Snow White from being hailed as a classic, but there is also a lot to like about it. Based on what I saw in my showing kids will enjoy it immensely and most adults will at least be entertained. Lovely visuals, catchy songs, and the lively pace and timely messaging of Erin Cressida Wilson’s script combine to make for a fun if slight time at the movies. It may not wind up being a parent’s favorite film this year, but it will likely be cherished by many children. ★★★½